LT. Shenk Onboard USS Nimitz
It was early evening and I found myself inside the cramped secure comms room aboard the USS Nimitz just off the shore of San Diego. I can remember standing near one of the crypto officers who was listening in to various Navy and broadcast messages that were heralding the beginning of Desert Storm – the offensive to reclaim occupied Kuwait.
It was January 17, 1991 and this tiny room filled with sensitive communications gear was buzzing with energy from thousands of miles away. As I listened into the stream of words and noise, not all intelligible to this junior officer, I can remember being filled with a flood of powerful emotions. Could this really be happening? Could the United States and dozens of other nations really be flying hundreds of attack aircraft on missions over an Iraqi landscape filled with sophisticated surface to air missiles, MiG-29s, and tens of thousands of dumb, but effective anti-aircraft guns? My mind raced and my heart beat. I must admit that my first and most powerful emotion was this surge of war lust. At 26 years of age and with nary a care in the world, I wanted in the worst way to be there, to be in the action, to be contributing. I didn’t want to be off the coast of San Diego. I wanted to be off the coast of Kuwait.
The second emotion, far more subdued, but definitely detectable, was a sense of foreboding. As I listened to the endless radio chatter, the salty crypto officer said, almost as an aside, that the Iraqis had fired numerous Scud rockets into Israel and that those medium-range ballistic missiles were filled with deadly chemical and biological agents (note: the Iraqis did fire eight Scuds into Israel, but none of them had chemical or biological warheads). Would the Israelis retaliate with something stronger? And what other evil tricks did Saddam Hussein have up his sleeve?
Operation Desert Storm was a watershed moment in the history of the United States military. This grand aerial assault saw the first widespread use of cruise missiles, stealth attack aircraft, real-time 24-hour news coverage from CNN, Patriot anti-missile batteries, human shields, and guided munitions that brought back actual TV footage of their exploits. Despite facing what appeared to be a deadly array of Iraqi air defenses, the Coalition forces quickly gained the upper hand and then pounded the Iraqi forces wherever found. In short order this grand aerial offensive prepared the desert landscape for the powerful ground offensive to come.
USAF F-15s and F-16s Flying Over Kuwait
Headed to the Gulf: Better Late Than Never
As a young Navy Lieutenant I wanted to be in that action, but my squadron, airwing, and carrier was not to be a part of the opening of Desert Storm. The question for me and my pilot buds was whether we would get to the Gulf in time. Would we get our chance to fly over the sands of Iraq and Kuwait? Strangely, and indefensibly, I remember wishing that the conflict would drag on – just give us time to get our battlegroup across the Pacific and Indian oceans, up through the Arabian Sea, and into the Persian Gulf in time. Just a few combat sorties, just a few juicy targets. Come on…how fast can this carrier move?
The Nimitz and Airwing 9 were just finishing up all their workups, preparing for their next cruise. Our squadron, Strike-Fighter Squadron 147 – the Argonauts, had completed its transfer from the venerable A-7E Corsair II into brand new Lot XII F/A-18C Hornets. As we received our orders to depart San Diego for deployment to the Gulf I can remember thinking that the chances to use our new Hornets in combat were low indeed. And sure enough almost a day after our departure the news of the cease fire that brought an end to the military part of Desert Storm was received.
View of the USS Nimitz from a nearby helicopter
Given the state of affairs in the Gulf, our transit across the huge Pacific was done at a more measured pace. Across the northern Pacific, near Midway Island, down through the Bashi Channel, and into Subic Bay, Philippines we came. Floating across the endless Pacific was a sublime experience. Despite being on the largest warship afloat, day after day of nothing but open ocean made me feel small. Watching flying fish spring forth from our wake and to smell and feel the salty, humid air was powerful stuff – the stuff of adventure for someone who had really never been too far from the coastline for any length of time. This giant floating steel platform, filled with oil, bombs, heat seeking missiles, chicken legs, steam, spare engines, wool blankets, soft-serve ice-cream machines, Nomex flight suits, nuclear power plants, steel chains, 85 aircraft, and 5,000 men had become my home.
After a beer-soaked port of call in Subic Bay we proceeded down below the equator (hello Neptunus Rex, goodbye Pollywogs) and then into Singapore (I guess we really aren’t in a hurry are we?). From Singapore we proceeded across the hot Indian Ocean and up into the Arabian Sea. It was the dead of night when we slipped through the narrow Straits of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf – we had made it. 14,075 miles from San Diego and we were now on station in the once-dreaded Persian Gulf.
Arrival in the Persian Gulf… Now What?
Our first job upon entering the Gulf was to relieve the carriers that had fought long and hard during the main event of the Gulf War. These carriers had flown endless numbers of sorties and were ready to skedaddle for home. As they left we became the only carrier remaining in the Gulf. I can remember climbing out onto the walkways near my port-side stateroom and looking down into the waters of the Persian Gulf. As spring gave way to an unmercifully hot summer you could look down into the oily waters and see poisonous sea snakes all around the ship – the desert sand-filled skies, 120 degree steel deck, and serpent-infested waters below, it did seem like we had floated our way into Hades itself.
Airwing Nine FA-18s and F-14s Prepare for Mission Over Iraq
Once established in the Gulf our airwing was tasked with maintaining combat air patrols over Iraq and Kuwait. With Iraq laying prostrate and a strict no-fly zone still in effect our pilots saw little action. Yes we chased a few phantom Scud missile mobile launchers and yes we pointed our noses at a few Red Cross planes, but for all intents and purposes there was little need to employ the modern weapon systems of our brand new jets. Later in our deployment, to break up the boredom of long flights, I would give our pilots the locations of various Iraqi and Babylonian archeological sites that they could then “paint” with their ground-mapping radar. In fact the only danger that we faced during this deployment to the Gulf was the weather itself. As the skies became filled with sand from the Rub Al Khali in Saudi Arabia and smoke from the burning oil wells in Kuwait, it became harder and harder for our pilots to see the deck or to find the drogue hoses of nearby air tankers. Near the end of our deployment one of our brand new Hornets nearly hit the rounddown of the ship as it attempted to land in the murk. Skidding into one of the arresting wires (miracle) the wounded Hornet, fully loaded with live air-to-air missiles, and with its afterburners still lit, came to a sudden lurching stop. Our pilot managed to eject and he landed unceremoniously right on the deck (no sea snakes for him). Fortunately for all of us his plane stopped on the angle, missing a whole set of jets that were readying for their cat shots on the front of the deck. Talk about a close call.
The only other high drama of this deployment came when Saddam Hussein had decided to show that he wasn’t totally kaput. Hussein had decided to shuttle around a number of his remaining mobile Scud launchers into a more offensive posture and this had caught the attention of our forces. To reapply the pressure, our airwing was asked to develop a strike plan that would have had us and other US Air Force assets (F-117s in particular) striking targets in and around Baghdad. We did a lot of planning and preparation for this attack, but alas we were never called upon to execute it. To be frank I’m not sure we or anyone had any luck in tracking down and stopping these pesky Scud launchers.
LT. Rob Shenk visiting a Portuguese fort in Bahrain
For me, a young Lieutenant on his first cruise, our late arrival in the Gulf did have some advantage. Given the calm state of the Gulf we were allowed to take ports of call in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I also had the chance to visit Bahrain and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – all places that I would probably never have visited on my own. I found the Arab culture there to be very interesting and I certainly took to the local food – schwarmas, mint tea, and falafals became regular treats after a lifetime of ship food. I also managed to catch a few flights on whatever could take me. I managed two cats (carrier catapult launches) on a S-3 Viking and a C-2 Greyhound (couldn’t see much on either flight). I also managed to get some rides in various helicopters like the HH-60, SH-3, and CH-53 – all great fun.
By late summer our relief came in the form of the USS Abraham Lincoln battlegroup and we were cleared to exit the Gulf and head home.
Its been twenty years now since that deployment. And despite missing most of the combat action, I am still proud of the fact that I had the chance to be “over there.” I’m also most grateful that I and my entire squadron came home together.
Operation Desert Storm: Twenty Years Later
Given all the more recent history of Operation Iraqi Freedom (the 2003 invasion of Iraq) and the endless deployments in Afghanistan, its hard for many to separate Desert Storm from that longer and more recent narrative. With that said I strongly believe that Desert Shield/Desert Storm should be seen as a separate and distinct military engagement – one that ended in real triumph. Unlike our more recent military forays into Iraq and Afghanistan, Desert Storm had a well defined and finite goal – get Iraq out of occupied Kuwait. Our military leaders – Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf, and Chuck Horner – developed and implemented a military plan that was devastatingly effective. Our political leadership, most notably President George H.W. Bush, stuck to our intended goal and was not deluded into following the more nebulous goal of “nation building” – a task that our combat arms are not really equipped or trained to do. To me, even twenty years later, Desert Shield and Storm, remain the model for how our military forces should be employed.
In memory of the almost 400 Coalition airmen, soldiers, and sailors who died fighting in Desert Storm.
Note: The lead photo is of a F-14 Tomcat of VF-24 – part of our Airwing while deployed to the Gulf
